News releases

Atkins' CEO Uwe Krueger: Vision, partnerships and technology key to energy efficiency in the face of rapid urbanisation - 20 January 2014

Atkins' chief executive officer, Prof Dr Uwe Krueger, recently spoke at the third Innovation Lecture Series, hosted by the UAE-UK Business Council's Energy Working Group in Abu Dhabi.

The lecture, entitled "Energy Efficiency: Engineering Smart Cities of the Future", outlined some of the steps required to better generate, distribute and use energy in the face of the latest urbanisation trends. The purpose of the event was to highlight the pressing need for innovation and collaboration in order to deliver energy sustainability in the age of smart cities.

Uwe commented: "Seventy-five per cent of the world's population will be living in cities by 2050. Urbanisation is not just about building more though; it's about building better and creating smart cities where people want to live. This encourages us to address all allied challenges such as water infrastructure, transport, food, health and wealth-creation and of course energy needs as cities of the future need to become environmentally resilient, socially cohesive and as efficient as possible."

The UAE is demonstrating examples of smart cities like Masdar City that has taken this very first and important step towards developing an energy efficient city. Masdar City is not only committed to building one of the most sustainable cities in the world and one that is an attractive place to live, but also to achieving this in a commercially viable manner.

Many of the Energy Working Group members have been working to support the UAE's energy and infrastructure growth for many years.Energy partners such as Shell and BP have been in the UAE for over 70 years, working in partnership with the government on oil and gas exploration and production, and Atkins is working closely with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation in establishing a civil nuclear programme for the UAE.

Uwe added: "Through partnerships - political, technical and social - we must bring together the best of technology at a city, national and international scale. Innovation in all spheres is reshaping our world and the pace of change is increasing, bringing us closer to sustainable smart cities now and in the future."

The lecture was attended by oil and gas, renewables, nuclear energy and engineering professionals from the UAE and UK's energy industries, in addition to government officials, urban planning and sustainability experts.

Ends

For more information:

Imogen Parker
Head of communications, Energy 		imogen.parker@atkinsglobal.com
Tel: +44 1372 752575 

Follow Atkins' news on Twitter

Notes to editors:

Atkins

Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading design, engineering and project management consultancies*, employing some 17,400 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. Our people's breadth and depth of expertise and drive to ask why has allowed us to plan, design and enable some of the world's most complex and time critical projects.

*14th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2013) and the third largest multidisciplinary consultancy in Europe (Svensk Teknik och Design 2012).

Recent projects

Atkins is working across urban regeneration, masterplanning, national energy programmes, major transport schemes, water and environment projects - applying smart design solutions on projects including:

  • Doha Central Planning Office - helping to co-ordinate Qatar's National 2030 Vision for world class transport infrastructure, which will bring major benefits to the economy;
  • The London 2012 Games infrastructure transformation - as technical advisor to London's boroughs as the Olympic Park moves into its legacy configuration as a follow-on role to our work as the Games' official engineering and design provider;
  • UAE's peaceful nuclear new build programme - providing technical assurance to lenders backing the United Arab Emirates' most ambitious energy infrastructure projects;
  • North Sea and Gulf of Mexico oil and gas platforms - extending the operational life of critical oil and gas platforms to allow cost-efficient and safe recovery of fuel sources from mature fields;
  • SSE offshore wind alliance - provision of expert engineering and design support for the UK's biggest offshore wind alliance with Scottish and Southern Energy;
  • Crossrail - designing the Central London twin tunnels and station architecture for Europe's biggest civil engineering scheme which will see tunnels passing beneath 470 listed buildings and critical infrastructure;
  • Etihad Railway - providing multidisciplinary design expertise on the 1,200 km Etihad Rail network which will revolutionise passenger and freight transport in the UAE;
  • Denmark ERTMS - providing multidisiplinary signalling expertise on the first countrywide installation of an ERTMS train control and management system in Denmark;
  • Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge - lead consultant on this integral part of the new Hong Kong link road scheme which will significantly boost land connectivity in the region;
  • Lowestoft Sixth Form College - design of the ultralow energy consumption Lowestoft College in the UK which aims to reduce operational energy use by more than 60% compared to previous designs;
  • UK National Composites Centre - providing technical expertise to bring the latest lightweight carbon fibre materials to all engineering sectors, helping to develop innovative applications and reduce costs and carbon;
  • US Environmental Protection Agency - providing technical assessment and analysis of national water-related resources and ecological systems in North America;
  • Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) superfast broadband - providing technical, commercial and procurement support to help deliver superfast broadband to one of Europe's most remote regions.
distributed by